


Ocean Eyes

by CytherVapora (orphan_account)



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator Dark Fate
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Top!Grace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:48:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21935473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/CytherVapora
Summary: Grace was supposed to die but then she didn't, all thanks to Sarah's nerd. Next they had to figure out what they could do to save the future but Grace and Dani take whatever time they have left to explore their own desires while Sarah is still being a grumpy old grandma.
Relationships: Grace & Dani Ramos, Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 10
Kudos: 97





	1. Drama Queen

**Author's Note:**

> My character aka Sophie is literally there to be a nerd and save Grace. She may help more in the future but who knows.
> 
> This is unbeta-ed so any mistakes are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except Sophie, nor do I gain any money from this.

Dani looked up in anguish, she had just lost two of her protectors in one night. Her last one just barely hanging on behind her. She, herself, felt like it was like she had been through hell and back. Which she did. But she knew it wasn’t over, not by a long shot. The future still needed her no matter how many times she tries to convince herself that someone else might stand up to the role of commander of the entire resistance.

  
She felt Sarah trying to pull her up to her feet, but her bloody and beaten hands clenched onto the material of Grace’s cargo pants. She looked at her protector’s face, it was strangely at peace.

  
‘’Stop sulking over this, if we get away fast enough, I might know a nerd that could fix her up.’’ Sarah grunted as she finally got Dani to stand up. ‘’And if you want that to happen, you better help me carry her outside. And for fuck’s sake, shes not dead, I can still feel a pulse.’’

  
Suddenly Dani felt like running a marathon.

  
‘’Wait-What?! Shes still alive?!’’ Dani was frantic. ‘’Then why did she say all that stuff?!’’

  
‘’Because shes a god damn drama queen, that’s why! Now could you please fucking help me? Or the police will have a field trip dissecting her future robotic body.’’  
They heaved Grace’s limp body on a metal open trolly they found somewhere, just that feat took every strength inside them because of how heavy the augmentation had made their fellow friend. Then they booked it out before the sirens even got near. Sarah had hoped that the police wouldn’t be able to salvage anything from the dead Rev-9 or Carl but one could only hope.

  
They trekked through the bumpy terrain of the forest, avoiding any open clearings in case the police were doing helicopter searches around the area. It was rough, they took turns pushing but fighting the Rev-9 really took a toll on both of them and so Sarah told Dani they would set up camp and Sarah would head out by herself to get into contact with one of her many acquaintances.

  
Dani sat next to Grace, leaning down, placing her ear above the tall woman’s chest. She waited and waited, until she finally heard that faint ticking noise and a shallow pump of blood flow from Grace’s weak heart. She was so sure Grace was dead as soon as she pulled that blue capsule of power from Grace’s stomach but apparently not. She wondered how an earth Sarah could tell but she was grateful they didn’t leave her behind.

  
‘’Stupid, don’t scare me like that. How many times do you want to scare me?’’ Dani gently knocked Grace’s forehead with the back of her hand. ‘’We’ll get you back to normal soon, I promise.’’

  
In the morning, help found them. Apparently, the same commanding officer that had helped them get some EMPs also managed to find the three of them with his search party. They were brought back to the base, new clothing, medical care and some privacy in a bunk of their own. They requested the doctors leave Grace alone since no one knew what modern medical care would do to an augmented human like Grace.

  
……

  
‘’Dani, you know you have to start training as soon as we get Grace up and running. We might not even save her in time. All we can do is keep giving her those drug shots and hook her up to an IV.’’ Sarah said from her place against the door frame. The old woman was looking at Dani clean Grace’s body with a wet cloth, how she carefully avoided areas that exposed metal mesh.

  
Dani carried on, ignoring the blunt pessimistic old woman.

  
‘’Dani. Come on. Shes clean enough.’’ Sarah rolled her eyes.

  
‘’Have you contacted your nerd yet?’’

  
‘’Yes, she’ll be here in a couple of hours.’’

  
‘’Good. The faster we get Grace back, the faster you’ll motivate me.’’ Dani wrung the bloodied cloth into the basin. ‘’I owe Grace my life, even though she said I saved her in the future, that’s not the same me. So, I still owe her.’’

  
Sarah sighed and crossed her arms, examining the damage that had been done to Grace. A deep stab wound in her abdomen, several gashes around the body that exposes her metal under amour and a missing power core. She hoped her nerd can figure it all out when she gets to the base.

  
Grace herself was silent, no movement, little to no breathing. Only the sound of whatever machine inside her that was still keeping her alive. Dani never left her side for long either, like she was stuck to her side. The small woman would sleep next to her on the cramped lower bunk bed and take her lunches and dinners to eat beside her. Sometimes she would sit quietly, reading some random book a soldier lent her or others, she would spend talking to an unresponsive Grace.

  
She would talk about her life before death came knocking at her door. How her little brother was an aspiring singer or that her dad was constantly telling her to quit factory work and move out to do whatever she wanted with her life. But she never did want that. She wanted to stay by her father’s side, help her brother out with his dreams. Dani valued her family above everything else.

  
…………

  
‘’Dani.’’ Sarah called.

  
Dani jolted up from her spot beside Grace, she looked over and saw Sarah by the door with a taller, lankier middle-aged woman with messy blonde hair and very big circular glasses. The stranger had a massive briefcase in her hand.

  
‘’This is Sophie. The nerd.’’

  
‘’Scientist.’’ The woman corrected her.

  
‘’Nerd. She’ll look over Grace and see what she can do.’’

  
Dani moved away from the bed and watched Sophie get her tools out. Just the normal doctor tools and some weird laptop with software she didn’t recognise on the screen.  
‘’Sarah told me shes from the future. Is that all you know about her? Is she human?’’ The scientist lifted Grace’s shirt to reveal the gaping hole from where Dani had yanked the power source out. She whistled at the damage.

  
Dani watched as Sophie started probing inside of Grace’s body, which made her squirm a little bit even though she was the one who had her hand in it a week ago.

  
‘’Yes, shes human. She went through an augmentation and became what you’re looking at now.’’ Dani explained.

  
‘’I see…’’ Sophie mumbled, lifting her glasses back onto her nose with the back of her gloved hands.

  
Before anyone could get a word in, the door opened again abruptly, and Major Dean came in with his ever so stoic face.

  
‘’Connor, Miss Ramos. I have some bad news. The higher ups are starting to ask questions and I can’t cover for you any longer. You have a couple of hours max to get out of here before they come investigate.’’ He announced. He glanced at the new person in the room with a raised eyebrow. ‘’Good luck with whatever you’re doing, I know you can’t share too much but Godspeed. The sergeant outside the room with help you get your buddy out of here safely. You can take a Jeep.’’ He left with a friendly tap on Sarah’s shoulder, she smiled with gratefulness.

  
Sophie took off her gloves and typed some things into her large laptop. ‘’I might have something that could save her back at my lab. We’ll have to get there soon; she doesn’t have much time.’’ She said.

  
After that, they rushed Grace onto a stretcher, packing as many dosages of the shots she needed to keep her alive. The doctors at the base was nice enough to supply anything they needed under the orders of the Major. They loaded everything into the Jeep. Sophie got into her own car and led them outside the massive military area and into a rural town nearby.

  
Dani sat at the back while Sarah drove. Grace’s head was lolling about in her lap, it reminded her of the first time Grace had crashed. It was just like this.

  
……

  
Sophie’s lab turned out to be a budget warehouse with a bunch of junk and tech inside. It was messy and unorganised. Dani inwardly cringed as she saw a couple of rats scurry past her feet. But what caught her attention was the giant capsule-like machine in the middle of the warehouse. It was made of glass and millions of wires connecting to who-knows-what to a machine nearby.

  
‘’So you never got rid of it huh?’’ Sarah circled the machine with a disgusted look.

  
‘’What is it?’’ Dani asked. Grace was on an old floor mattress, a newly injected IV running through her arm.

  
‘’A time machine. Dear old Sophie has always been a time travel fanatic.’’ Sarah rolled her eyes so hard it might’ve gotten stuck.

  
‘’Well, now that I know time travel is obtainable, I’m starting to think I’m not as crazy as people thought I was.’’ The nerd was hacking away at her own machine, at the base of it where all the wires were connected to. She was pulling away wires left and right. She grunted as she struggled to break off one of them. ‘’Sarah, could you pass me some scissors?’’

  
The older woman found and passed her a pair and Sophie got to work cutting away at the last of them. Once she was done, she reached into the base until she was shoulder deep. One of her eyes shut and she bit her tongue as she concentrated on finding whatever it was, she was looking for.

  
A couple of minutes of fiddling later, Sophie finally pulled her arm back out, this time she was holding something that reminded Dani of the power core she pulled out of Grace.  
‘’Oh Dios mio…’’ Dani covered her mouth with her hand. ‘’Is that..’’

  
Sophie inspected the blue, glowing capsule in her hand. The light was pulsing like a heartbeat.

  
‘’Yup. A power core. Probably not the same one Grace had but close enough. When I looked at the wiring inside her body and the shape of the core that had been missing. I remembered that I built something like that for my own time machine. My time machine needed a lot of power, like nuclear amounts of power. But, of course, I can’t exactly build a nuke in here. So, I put all my work into building this little baby.’’

  
‘’Why were you building a time machine?’’ Dani inquired. Her hopes were getting higher and higher.

  
‘’I heard about what Sarah did when I was working for the government. So, I quit and poured all my funds and efforts into it.’’ Sophie was at the workbench, tinkering with the capsule, taking out certain things and adding a thin frame so she could install it into the body.

  
‘’That still doesn’t explain why you’re building one.’’ Sarah butted in. She half-sat on the work bench, her eyes piercing into Sophie’s.

  
‘’I thought it would be awesome if I could be the first one to discover it. You know, get the money, get the recognition I deserve and all that bullshit.’’ Sophie huffed but came clean. ‘’I was greedy.’’

  
‘’Yes, you were.’’ The old woman scoffed and looked elsewhere.

  
Dani took the time Sophie was using to sit next to Grace on the mattress. She brushed the short fringe out of her face, wiping the sweat away that was just forming. She couldn’t imagine the pain Grace was in. In fact, Grace has been suffering since that Judgement day.

  
Dani thought it through. Grace had known a different, older and wiser Dani in the future. Future Dani had already known the Grace and also the Grace that had travelled back to her time then. There was also another Grace out there somewhere in this timeline. The thought alone, made Dani’s mind spiral.

  
‘’If future Grace is still alive now, wouldn’t that alter future itself? Wouldn’t it break that endless loop of a Dani sending back Grace to save Dani?’’ Dani thought out loud.  
‘’Yes, it would change it drastically.’’ Sophie answered. She paused her work to answer more in depth. ‘’Depending on what you do next, everything will change. Her future will no longer be the same, neither will ours.’’

  
‘’It also means you probably won’t have to send another brat back in time.’’ Sarah commented. Inside, the emotionally damaged woman was happy for Grace… Well, present Grace. Present Grace was just a child, afterall.

  
They sat in silence. Dani watched from where she sat, Sophie working on Grace’s new power source was strangely peaceful. Sarah, on the other hand, got bored easily and went outside to smoke, keep an eye out for any unwanted visitors.

  
‘’Its done.’’ The announcement caused Dani to snap out of whatever daydream she was having. Suddenly, she felt giddy.

  
‘’Sarah! Its done!’’ She shouted towards the door. The short woman moved out of the way for Sophie to get to work. The environment wasn’t exactly the best place to work on fixing such a complex augmentation but Sophie made do.

  
The surgery was gruelling but Dani was more than happy to help with anything. She shone the flashlight into the open wound for the scientist to attach new wires and implant the new power core into the exact same spot as the old one. She also did some repairs around the body wherever the metal mesh tore through. Sophie patched Grace up with some flexible metal she was working on for a different project. It wasn’t as good as the prosthetic replacement skin she was given in the future, nor did it blend very well. But they moved her arm, neck and waist around, the metal was incredibly soft but durable.

  
Once Sophie attached the last piece of metal on the abdomen, she stepped back and checked on the IV bag.

  
‘’I’m assuming she lost a lot of blood during that fight you had.’’ Sophie took out her phone. ‘’We’ll need to do some blood transfusions, otherwise she won’t wake up for another week.’’

  
‘’I can drive to the hospital and see what I can do.’’ Sarah said. She grabbed her keys from the workbench and walked out. ‘’Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.’’  
Sophie sat back on a well worn sofa and chugged a bottle of water. She looked at her handiwork. An almost 6 foot woman, from the future, patched up by her expertise. She was kinda proud but also devastated that all that hard work into making that powercore for her time machine was now inside someone else. But she knew inside this was for the better cause.

  
‘’Did you really want to know?’’ Dani broke the comfortable silence.

  
‘’Know what?’’

  
‘’What the future would've been like?’’

  
Sophie shook her head and took her glasses off to clean the specks of blood and dirt off. ‘’No, not at all. Being a scientist, the thrill of the job is discovering and inventing things along the way. Going to the future would’ve been cheating which takes out all the fun.’’

  
Dani gave her a quizzled look. ‘’Then why would you build a time machine?’’

  
The older woman shrugged. ‘’As I said before, I was greedy. I was testing my capabilities, trying to prove to people who doubted me. For the glory, for the money. I would’ve never stepped foot in that thing, I just wanted to be the one to make it.’’

  
Dani nodded as she finally understood.

  
‘’I’m glad I used that thing to save her though.’’ Sophie added. ‘’I can see you care for her greatly. Sarah too.’’

  
Dani chuckled and stroked the top of Grace’s head. ‘’Yeah. I only technically knew her for a few days, all of that time was spent running for my life. I felt so safe whenever she was near but I hated that she would risk her life for me even though it was her job.’’

  
‘’Do you think she may have had a closer relationship to you? In the future I mean. No normal person would risk that much for someone, even if it was for humanity.’’  
Dani nodded. ‘’I wondered since she told me she had known me. I didn’t have time to ask though.’’

  
Sarah came back with a duffle bag, a little scratch on the top of her eyebrows. ‘’I had to steal from a nearby blood bank so we should get moving as soon as shes able.’’ Sarah heaved the bag next to Grace.

  
Sophie quickly fetched one of the bags and replaced the used IV bag with it. They watched the blood flow down quickly into Grace’s arm. Grace was like a vampire, the blood bag was drained in under 5 minutes and Sarah was glad she picked up more than 10 bags otherwise Grace would not be waking up.

  
8 Bags of blood in, Grace’s eyes begin to flutter open, it was starting to get dark outside and Sophie had to turn on the bright warehouse lights. The augmented woman groaned, her voice was grumbly and low. Dani shouldn’t have found that insanely attractive but she did.

  
‘’Grace?’’ She called out tentatively. She reached out and touched her protectors forehead with the back of her hand. ‘’Can you hear me?’’

  
Grace’s eyes flew open at the sound of her commander’s voice. Her eyes were shining with life unlike the time in the dam underground.

  
‘’What the fuck!’’ The tall woman cussed. But then her hand snapped to her throat, it was too sore and dry for that short outburst.

  
Thankfully Dani read her actions and handed her a big bottle of water, unscrewed it for her and held it up to her lips.

  
‘’Drink, Grace.’’ She commanded. Grace wasted no time downing the liquid that felt like silk running down her throat.

  
Grace finished the bottle in seconds but sat there panting, utterly confused to how she was still alive. She surveyed her surroundings, she was in a mess of a building and Dani was next to her, relatively still healing from her own injuries. Sarah was cautiously watching from a support beam a few paces away. Then there was a woman she didn’t recognise.

  
Dani took her face in her hands and stroked her thumbs over her eyebrows, her cheek, her lips.

  
‘’How am I still alive? You-’’ Grace stopped herself and felt around her stomach for that gaping hole she knew Dani left behind. But all she felt was lukewarm metal. ‘’What- How-’’

  
‘’My friend fixed you. Stop being stupid and say thank you, we have to leave.’’ Sarah pointed to the scientist who was staring at Grace like she didn’t expect the woman to be real after all those wild stories she had been told.

  
Grace wanted to hug and punch Sarah all at the same time but held back. ‘’Thank you.’’ She said curtly. Sophie nodded slowly and didn’t say anything more.  
‘’Your eyes. They’re even bluer, like they’re glowing.’’ Dani remarked, she was entranced.

  
‘’My power core is very strong. From what you told me, Grace shouldn’t need her shots as often as before.’’ Sophie explained.

  
‘’I won’t crash as often?’’ Grace muttered. She felt around her body for any more adjustments but other than patches of weird metal, nothing was out of the ordinary. ‘’This is amazing… Is the Rev-9 dead? What happened? How did you get out? What happened to Carl? Is he-’’

  
Sarah had enough of the questions, especially when she mentioned the recently deceased and ‘good’ terminator she had spent half her life hating.  
‘’Yada yada yada. Sophie, I owe you one after this. Call me when you need something.’’ Sarah packed the loose blood bags back into the duffel bag. ‘’Dani, Grace, come on. We’re leaving.’’

  
Dani sensed how urgent Sarah was and helped Grace up by putting her giant arm around her shoulders. ‘’I’ll explain everything in the car.’’ She turned to Sophie. ‘’Thank you so much for saving her, it means so much to me- to us.’’ Dani smiled.

  
Sophie did a mock bow and helped them pack things into the jeep. She also gave instructions to Dani and Grace in case her power core acted up or stopped working.  
Then they left.

  
Dani was in the back seat with Grace. She couldn’t take her eyes off the handsomely beautiful woman who devoted her life to her. Grace was adjusting her position. Even in the Jeep she was too tall and had to compensate by leaning to the side so she wouldn’t hit her head.  
Dani patted her lap and Grace laid her head down. ‘’So its dead?’’

  
‘’Yup.’’ Dani combed Grace’s hair with her fingers. It was matted and it was a little longer since the day she first arrived. ‘’Carl made sure of that.’’  
Grace nodded. She looked up at Dani’s face, her own hand raised up to cup her leader’s face. She couldn’t believe she escaped death like that. She thought she would’ve been left in the dam after her noble sacrifice.

  
‘’Are you okay?’’ Grace asked but then she felt tear drops falling onto her face. ‘’Dani?’’ She called out tentatively.

  
Dani’s tears kept dropping though. With Grace back and in her lap, recovering, it was almost like a dream to her.

  
‘’I-I, I’m just so glad-’’ Dani took a deep but shaky breath. ‘’I’m happy that I didn’t lose you too… I’ve already lost so much.’’ She continued, smiling sadly through teary eyes.  
Grace stayed quiet but used her thumb to wipe away the tears on Dani’s face. Dani grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers together.

  
‘’Alright love birds, stop with that bullshit. We’re going to stay in that metal tincan’s cabin while we figure out what the heck we’re supposed to do.’’ Sarah spoke up.  
The two women at the back blushed heavily and tried to focus.

  
Sarah cracked a small smirk and looked at the rear mirror at the two of them, she drove through the night, wishing that d-day never comes.


	2. New Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They decide on a game plan, Grace takes a trip down memory lane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbeta-ed, all mistakes are my own.

It took almost half a day’s worth of driving and stopping for gas to reach Carl’s cabin again. Grace had drained all the blood bags, so she spent most of the ride sleeping, only waking up to receive her shots of drugs. It was tiring for all of them. Dani had only recently learnt how to drive so she and Sarah could take turns.

When they reached the driveway, they were instantly reminded of the brute but lovable terminator friend who had sacrificed himself for the future. Something that went against his origins.

‘’I’m going to make sure the Rev-9 didn’t do anything to this place.’’ Sarah said. But the younger women both knew it was an excuse to keep her mind off Carl.

Grace limped over to the guest bedroom. She sat down on the bed and allowed Dani to remove her shoes and help her lay on the bed. 

‘’Thank you.’’

Dani grinned and took off her own shoes, she hesitated before laying down next to Grace. 

‘’Do you think future Dani will be proud?’’ 

‘’Proud?’’ Grace asked, she turned her head so she could look at the latina woman clearly.’’That we beat it?’’ 

‘’Yes and no. I meant the fact that you’re still alive. Think about it, Dani in the future already lost a Grace, she probably didn’t want to lose you too.’’ Dani elaborated. She reached around with her right hand and found Grace’s much larger ones. 

‘’I begged her to choose me.’’ Grace admitted. ‘’Now I can see why she was so nervous about it. She had always been someone who knew all the answers to everything, everyone thought she was a Jesus reincarnate.’’ The tall woman laughed at that thought. ‘’She knew she was sending me to my grave.’’

‘’I’m just wondering how the other Grace didn’t survive that time.’’ Dani closed her eyes in thought. ‘’Unless Sarah was never meant to be part of this.’’

‘’In the future, Dani never mentioned anyone named Sarah Connor. She said she had found a group of people in the city and built it from there.’’

They both sighed and tried not to think about the confusing timelines and how and what should’ve happened. Grace was savouring the contact she had with Dani. In the future, they were close but as close as a mentor and trainee could ever have. Grace had the biggest crush on her saviour but she knew that the Dani who was holding her hand, wasn’t the same Dani. Or at least, not the same one she fell for even though they’re the same person. 

Dani, on the other hand, was thinking about all the things that had transpired. Losing her family, getting chased by a terminator, meeting Sarah Connor and of course, her protector. Grace. 

She thought about the first moment she saw Grace in that stolen guard’s uniform, how she handled that shotgun so smoothly, the muscles that flexed underneath her skin as each shot recoiled. In the car, when Grace started to drive in reverse, all she could remember besides the fear was the sight of Grace’s toned arm around the back of her seat, her face close to hers as she maneuvered the truck.

Then the moment on the bridge. The way she held her when she pulled her from her brother’s side. The way Grace cradled her body to hers. Another when Sarah threw the grenade at the Rev-9. Grace automatically shielded the blast with her own body, Dani could still feel how flush they were against each other. Grace’s battle hardened body, her strong, long arms wrapped around her, supporting her.

The softer moments were what she really focused on. The look Grace gave her when she was let into the motel room after she was locked out. The tiny glances Grace shot her way whenever she showed any signs of pain. The bed of the truck where she laid her head down on Grace’s thigh. All of it was special to her. 

Dani felt her throat constrict with emotion. She knew she was falling for her protector. Hard and fast.

The small woman finally had enough and got up without a word. She didn’t look back to see Grace throw her a concerned look. Dani went into Carl’s bedroom and into his ensuite. She turned on the tap and splashed her face with freezing cold water. Again and again until she felt that she woke up from whatever she was fantasizing about. 

‘Snap out of it Dani. This isn’t the time to fall in love with someone who is supposed to keep you alive.’ She thought. 

…..

Sarah was in the living room, sitting on Carl’s recliner, nursing a beer. She sat there, thinking about her son and how his killer was ultimately the one who saved Dani. All of them. She knew that without Carl, none of them would be here right now. The future would’ve been doomed and her hunt for terminators would’ve all been for blind vengeance and not for a better future. 

She hated how she misjudged Dani to be the mother of a man who was supposed to save the world, she then understood why Grace glared at her that harshly when they took the train to the border. She had insisted that Dani was worthless, which wasn’t true. Not at all. 

‘’Don’t you need sleep?’’ Grace spoke up. She took a seat on the couch adjacent from Sarah. 

‘’I could say the same about you kid.’’ Sarah downed the rest of the beer. It was her 5th one that night. 

‘’I can take care of her now. You can go off and do whatever.’’ Grace ran her palm over the metal that had been welded on the crook of her neck, she vaguely remembered a hole there before she woke up from her coma. ‘’Go hunt terminators or whatever.’’

Sarah scoffed. ‘’The tin can who had been sending me info is dead now. If they send terminators again, we won’t know when and where they’ll be.’’ 

Grace couldn’t argue with that. 

‘’How about we do what you did. Stop Legion before its created?’’ The metal woman offered. 

Sarah shook her head, propping her legs up onto the coffee table, almost knocking over all the empty bottles. 

‘’Even if you stop it, the AI will be replaced. Think about it. I stopped one, they created another. You stop one, they’ll create another. They never learn.’’ 

‘’Then what do we do?! Sit here and wait for Judgement day? Wait for billions to lose their lives until Dani can build a big enough resistance against them?’’ Grace shouted, frustrated at the limited options they had. 

Sarah had been raking her tired old brain for ideas. The only real weapon and advantage on their side was Grace. But there was only one of her. Dani was and is supposed to still be humanity’s hope and they can’t afford to put her in harm’s way. 

‘’We have to either slow Legion down or wait and train Dani for the inevitable. The good news with the second option is that she’ll still have you when it all goes down. Who knows, I might kick the bucket before it all starts.’’ 

Dani appeared from Carl’s room. Her face dry and her eyes slightly red from how much she had rubbed them. 

‘’Stop talking like that.’’ Dani sat next to Grace but gave a respectable distance between them. ‘’No one is going to kick the bucket.’’ 

‘’Thats what old people do kid.’’ Sarah gestured to herself. ‘’Who knows how long your girlfriend is supposed to last either.’’

They both ignored that girlfriend remark. 

‘’My doctor said I will live 20 years more than the average human in this age. My muscle fibres were built to last, I was given the latest augmentation. The earlier tests made the human body too fragile and soldiers could only really attend to sucide missions.’’

‘’One use huh?’’ Sarah clicked her tongue. 

‘’How old are you now?’’ Dani asked. She had been curious since Grace never told them, only that she was a teenager when the future Dani found her. 

‘’I’m 29. The Dani in the future was 37. I was 16 when she found me. Judgment day happened shortly after my 14th birthday.’’ Grace provided more information. 

‘’So if Dani is 21 now, present Grace is 13 now. We have 1 year to do whatever we can until D-day.’’ Sarah concluded. 

They went through every possible route they could take. 

  1. Train Dani so that she’ll be at her best when the day comes. 
  2. Use Grace and destroy as much of Legion as they possibly can and delay the inevitable.
  3. Wait it out and face it head on. 
  4. Get Sophie to build another time machine and send Grace back in time again, so that there will be two Graces to protect past Dani and Carl might still get a chance to live, which means that they’ll be able to predict any more terminators that might try assassinate Dani again. 



None of them really peaked Sarah’s interest. She had no plans to try and save Carl’s life but she knew that he would’ve been a great help in the current situation. 

‘’What do we do? Is it possible to send Grace back?’’ Dani asked. 

‘’Even if I were to go back, the Rev-9 is too unpredictable. It’s sole mission is to kill Dani, it won’t change unless I kill him on the spot.’’ Grace winced as she sat too long in one position, she stood up and heard her new metal skin creak from breaking in the tension. ‘’We have to prepare Dani. We can’t just storm into the government labs. I won’t be able to do enough damage and its too risky, if they get their hands on me, its all over.’’ 

The vetaran nodded to herself, agreeing with Grace. ‘’So we train her, teach her how to fire a gun properly, hand to hand combat, how to lead an army, that kind of shit.’’

Sarah stood up and grabbed the keys and jacket, throwing it on sloppily. 

‘’Where are you going?’’ Dani stood up too, not wanting to be the only one sitting down. 

‘’I’m going to start preparing. Get guns, ammo, backup generator and all that shit. Once that fucked up AI turns, everything will be dark. Also I’m going to try to convince Sophie to move in with us, a scientist is essential to post apocalypse survival.’’ 

Grace blocked her way to the door. ‘’Are you sure you want to drive after having all of that?’’

‘’I’ll be fine, stop being a brat, we don’t have much time.’’ Sarah pushed Grace aside easily, a roar of an engine and she was pulling out the long driveway and into the forest. 

……

Sarah had been gone for almost a week, after the first two days, Grace had made a full recovery and started to work on the house. She axed the logs they weren’t using for fire to planks, nailing them against windows and doors. Then she dug a trench around the cabin and the fire arms building, she then built an underground base. Just basic wooden walls and she had managed to electricity working down there too. 

Meanwhile, Dani would try to help her. To her, Grace’s near death experience was still too fresh in her mind. She would look at Grace like it might be her last time looking at her. She was never far from the augmented human, at most a room away. She would always make sure Grace had water every hour, change her bandages every day. 

She was paranoid.

One night, Grace had finished building a new shed that Sarah requested (more like demanded) her to build. It was for their new farm equipment, the old woman suggested they start planting their own food, just in case. 

Grace was sat on the porch stairs, looking at her work. She had never been much of an architect back in the future, she left that to the engineers and designers but she did an ok job. The shed was stable and usable, that was all that mattered to her. 

She felt something cold knock on her temple and she turned to see a bottle of coke, straight from the fridge, hand delivered by her soon-to-be commander. 

She thanked Dani and nodded towards the shed. ‘’What do you think?’’

‘’You did good, I like the roof.’’ Dani complimented, not sure what else to say about a basic shed. 

Grace stared up at the night sky, it was clear and she could see all the twinkling stars above them. She saw blinking red lights from the planes that flew their course and with her enhanced vision, she could vaguely make out a satellite orbiting from far away. 

‘’Your eyes.’’ Dani started. ‘’They remind me of them, the stars.’’ She was mesmerised by them, she could see the glowing blue swirling in Grace’s pupils, almost like the ocean.

Grace’s attention snapped back to the woman beside her. ‘’We don’t see stars where I came from. Our bases were mostly underground and the outside world had always been clouded with smoke and fog.’’ 

The mood was growing dim and Dani wanted to change the subject. 

‘’Tell me about you, about her. Future Dani.’’ The shorter woman leaned back on her hands. ‘’I want to know more.’’

Grace thought back to how she first met Dani, the Dani who found her.

‘’Well-’’

[Flash back]

I was saved. 

The woman who fought off the scavengers, convinced them to join her side and helped me back up onto my feet was Dani Ramos. Leader of the growing resistance. 

When I had first heard of the group of people who rebelled against the machines, I thought they were crazy, so did my dad. That's probably why he dragged us away from them but I felt like that was the biggest mistake he could’ve made. If only we had joined them earlier… he wouldn’t have died like that, leaving me all alone to defend myself from those monsters. 

When Dani led us back to her base, there were more people than I thought there were. They had made an old highschool with a factory behind it, their base. They set up lookout towers, the soldiers on top looked down at us, smiled kindly as they opened the gates. 

Everyone greeted Dani with grins and cheers. She returned them with just as much enthusiasm. It had been so long since I last saw so many people smile like that. The sound of genuine laughter. 

‘’Grace.’’ She stopped me. She had to look up slightly since I was a couple of inches taller than her. ‘’Welcome to your new home.’’ 

There it was again. Those sad eyes that hid behind a smile. 

I didn’t know why she kept looking at me like that. It wasn’t pity or sympathy. It was like she recognised me. 

….

I had underestimated them. They had a huge underground facility that connected to the factory above it. They sectioned everything off, a long hallway that connected the living quarters for the soldiers. Each quarter held 2 bunk beds. Then they had the communal showers and toilets down the hall at the end. They even had a small classroom for the kids, an underground farm and a whole science lab dedicated to researching new ways to defeat the Legion. 

It was like heaven. 

Dani had wanted me to bunk with other kids my age but fear struck me. Ever since dad had bit the dust, I had been beaten by other teens, adults twice my age. I clung onto her, begging her like a pathetic child, not to leave me. 

She didn’t hesitate to let me sleep with her in her office. She had her own bed and also a worn out couch that she let me stay on. The people who were close with her joked that she was playing favourites but she assured them that she was only helping me out until I could stand on my own. A part of me hoped she was lying, that she would always be by my side. 

For the first few weeks, she got me to open up, convinced me to go to school or at least interact with other people. I made a couple of friends. Mark and Jace. Mark was tall like me, he was older by a few years but Jace was 16. We liked to skate around on the boards Dani had found on one of her rescue missions. Somehow she had managed to bring back something for me every time she came back. Books, a pack of pencils, skateboards, rubix cubes. 

2 years later, I still slept in her office. Even without her there sometimes, the fact that it was her office calmed me down. Besides Mark, Jace and Dani. I didn’t trust anyone. I had shoulder length hair and shirt that was probably too tight for me, I had also started to grow, my stunted puberty no longer holding back because of the nutrition intake, my womanly figure finally coming through. One day a guy tried to get lucky, he pinned me in an empty hallway and started flirting with me. 

I told him to stop, that I didn’t like it. He wouldn’t though, he thought I was playing hard to get. His hands started to wonder on my body and I didn’t have the strength or the skill to fight back. I tried punching him, but he pinned both my arms to the wall easily, using his other to snake his hand up under my shirt. And when I thought that I was done for, harsh pounding footsteps came down the echoing hallway. Dani had thrown a mean right hook to the guy, he stumbled away from me, shocked and angry but he grew scared when he saw who had assaulted him. I was slightly panting in residue fear but all of that washed away at the sight of my savior.

He stood straight and saluted. ‘’Commander.’’

‘’Touch her again and I promise I won’t hesitate throwing you to a Rev-6 and letting it shred your body to pieces. I’ll deal with you later Daniels.’’ She threatened. The soldier audibly gulped and nodded furiously, he almost ran away when she told him to go away. That made me respect her even more.

‘’Dani-’’

‘’Grace.’’ She countered. She reached out and fixed my t-shirt that had been ridden up to just under my breasts. Her palms lingered on my bare stomach before she pulled the clothing down to the waistband of my cargo pants. ‘’What did I tell you about wandering around by yourself?’’

I looked down at her. Her hands were still clenching the hem of my shirt. I realised my mistake.

‘’That I should walk with Jace or Mark or you.’’ I answered. I covered her hands with my own when I noticed her knuckles turning white. 

‘’Humans are dangerous too, they’ll always be dangerous. What if I hadn’t gotten here on time, what if Mark never told me he saw you going this way by yourself?! What do you think would’ve happened to you?’’ Dani sounded so angry. A tone that was never directed at me before. 

I didn’t answer her.

‘’Why won’t you let me join the army?’’ 

She sighed. She always did when I brought it up.

‘’Because I can’t stand seeing you hurt.’’

‘’But I’ll get hurt if I don’t learn. I’ll never be able to stand beside you out there, be the one to protect you!’’ I said, exasperatedly. ‘’Why won’t you just-’’

‘’I don’t want your protection!’’ She bursts out. She tore her own grip away, flinging my hands away from hers. ‘’I’ve had enough protection from y-’’ She cut herself off with her hand over her mouth. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, calming down. ‘’Grace, I don’t need your protection, I have a whole army to keep me safe. I just want you to concentrate on living a peaceful-’’

‘’Bullshit life! I want to help!’’ I ran my hands through my hair, messing it all up. ‘’I don’t want to be dead weight, I know I can help out there! I’ll even volunteer for that augmentation program!’’

That seemed to trigger her in all the wrong ways. 

‘’Don’t you fucking dare volunteer! Do you hear me Grace. You volunteer for that fucking program and I’ll never forgive you.’’ She glared up at me, her face red from anger. 

‘’Then let me join the army.’’ I challenged. 

……

Another 3 years passed like a blur and I was 21, graduated top of the class, joined a special unit called the Black Recon. A group that was dedicated to scouting and the first to be deployed before an actual mission was carried out. We were all the best of our classes, our Captain, Royce Briggs, had been with Dani since the beginning, fighting by her side. I trusted him with my life and so did Dani.

‘’Are you sure you want to cut your hair sweetie? Long hair suits you so much.’’ My hairdresser, Timmy remarks, playing with my ponytail. 

I shrugged and looked at the slightly cracked mirror in front of me. ‘’It’ll only get in my way, plus, I want to surprise someone.’’ I smirked up at him. 

For the next 45 minutes he spent shaving the mop on my head, giving me a respectable short length I asked for. My fringe touched my eyelashes, the back of my head felt weightless, kinda nice as I ran my fingers up and down the shaven part. 

When Dani first saw it her jaw dropped. She dropped her files all over the floor, rushing over to me, standing on her tippy-toes just to run her hand through my new hairdo. Our faces were so close, I blushed thinking about how I could just tilt my head and...

‘’What do you think?’’’ I was half expecting a witty remark or some kind of response but I didn’t get any.

She was in a trance, like reliving a memory. 

‘’Just like her… You look just like-’’ She muttered, I didn’t catch what she said at the end but I spent all night on that couch wondering with a slight ache at the bottom of my heart when she mentioned I looked like someone she knew. I wanted to know who I looked like. Who was it that made Commander Ramos so entranced. 

I was jealous. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the flashbacks begin, they'll be in either Grace's or Dani's perspective. Time travel is so confusing so ima try simplifying it for all of us lol


End file.
